Solitaire Antics Deluxe is a collection of 50 different solitaire games, including classics like Klondike, Westcliff, and Golf. It's your standard wide variety solitaire game with a ton of nice little touches to claw at the heels of its competition. Whether it's enough to sway you from your old favorite remains to be seen, but it will certainly catch your eye with its keen attention to the smallest details that will enhance your solitaire experience.
Solitaire Antics Deluxe keeps track of each player's complete statistics, from wins and losses to your best times to your current streak. You can also see what percentage of games you win and exactly how much time you've spent playing this addictive game. After beginning for the first time, you'll immediately want to head for the options menu to customize the game to your needs. You can choose from 7 different card decks, 25 different background pictures, and 256 background colors. You'll definitely want to change the default green to something a little easier on the eyes. You can also easily toggle options such as "Overlap Piles to Fit Window" or "Show Moveable Cards". With "Show Moveable Cards" enabled, a red stripe is stamped across the corner of any card that can be moved. While the features works flawlessly on regular solitaire (Klondike), it is a major hassle and distraction with a multitude of others. In some cases just about every card would have a stripe on it basically defeating the purpose. However, it's a great tool for children who are trying to learn the regular game of solitaire. You can also customize the rules of any game. Now that's customization!
As you play your favorite game, you might be surprised the first time you see ants dancing across your screen. That's right, to keep things lively while you shuffle those cards around you'll be greeted with some nice ants zooming across your screen in various costumes or vehicles. You also get a nice ant animation when you win a game. There's a ton of different animations so you could still be watching new ones after two to three weeks of playing the game. Of course, if you find the little insects annoying, you can always turn them off. These animations are a great touch and really made the game endurable for long periods of time.
Other notable features include easy one-click moving and tours. Tours are a series of different Solitaire games that you play in succession for the fastest time. The tours available are Easy Games, Medium Games, Difficult Games, Grand Tour and 2 Deck Games. You can easily see which player has the fastest tour time and you keep playing trying to improve your best time. You can also stop in the middle of a tour and start right back up where you left off at a later time. The tours are fun and challenging and offer a nice mix of games with similar difficulty.
When you sum up the entire package, Solitaire Antics Deluxe certainly rivals other solitaire games. However, it seems clear from readers that they have a strong loyalty to their longtime favorite and it will be tough for Masque to sway those customers. However, if you're looking for a nice game of solitaire, I'm giving my top recommendation to Solitaire Antics Deluxe. With a ton of different solitaire games, a lot of different options for customization, and a decent price, Solitaire Antics Deluxe is simply an outstanding choice for any solitaire fan.
